Did Lou Lamoriello make Martin Brodeur, or did Brodeur make Lamoriello? Did Brodeur become the game’s greatest goalie because he became part of Lamoriello’s New Jersey Devils, or has Lamoriello already taken up residency in the Hockey Hall of Fame because he had the best between the pipes for so many years?

This much is certain. Both men, together through years of glory, and then through the last nine years of trying to figure out why they couldn’t win again before arriving, surprisingly, in this Stanley Cup final against the similarly surprising Los Angeles Kings, remain as firmly connected as ever.

Their careers and hockey destinies haven’t just intersected or become intertwined; they have been nearly fused for 20 years. Players and coaches have come and gone, and then come back again (the Devil you know ...) in some cases.

The goalie and the GM, however, have remained like stone pillars.

Ask Brodeur what the future holds beyond this season, and the second or third part of his answer will always be, “Well, it depends on Lou.” Ask Lamoriello about their relationship, and he cites the goaltender’s constancy. “He’s never changed,” said Lamoriello on Tuesday. “And he’s never, ever had anything but the highest respect for the organization. He’s never overstepped himself, or asked for something more than anyone else had.”

The players association, naturally, might argue Brodeur has, for years, taken less than he should have just to remain a Devil — wouldn’t even use an agent! — while others chafed under the anti-individualism of the Jersey organization and moved on. Lamoriello, for his part, resisted the urge in recent years to replace the goaltender, now 40, with someone younger, or even just someone different.

So they are still together, and try to name another executive and athlete in sport than have together produced this kind of unbroken, symbiotic relationship. Steve Yzerman only played in Detroit, but it was for a number of different bosses. For a long while it seemed like Peyton Manning and Bill Polian were both Colts forever, at least until they weren’t any more.

Even now, with the Devils organization in significant distress because of the battered state of the books, it seems likelier that Brodeur, although he clearly wants to keep playing, would quit rather than split with Lamoriello.

“Their bond is as tight as you can have in sports,” said Ken Daneyko, who played for years in New Jersey with Brodeur and has his own special relationship with Lamoriello because of his personal issues.

“Marty and I have talked about it. He has a certain way he goes about his business, and with Lou, he never makes you feel like a piece of meat.”

Therein, quite probably, lies the secret to this relationship. Brodeur could have been more famous elsewhere, certainly could have made more money with another team, but in the Devils and with Lamoriello found community and a team philosophy he could buy into and feel comfortable. He never sought the life of a hockey mercenary.

Lamoriello remembers being the hockey coach at Providence College and being disgusted by the lack of communication and personal relationships between pro athletes he knew and their bosses. He keeps in touch with many of his former players and coaches, men that instinctively come in for a hug when they see him, and perhaps in Brodeur he found an athlete who would respond to the no-fuss, all-in, intensely loyal way he wanted to do business.

Plus, of course, he found a great goalie.

“I remember (Brodeur’s) first camp,” said Daneyko. “You just noticed the way he carried himself. I remember going home and saying to my wife, ‘We’ve got a shot at winning now.’”

For his part, when Brodeur was asked what has changed since his first trip to the Cup final in 1995, he said, “Well, I’ve got five kids now.”

He talked of “tweaking” his game this season — he did go to larger pads for the first time — and being inspired by Ron Hextall, now the assistant GM of the Kings, to play the puck better than any goalie in hockey history.

He’s going head-to-head with L.A. goalie Jonathan Quick in this final, a Connecticut kid who grew up rooting for the Rangers and was in high school when Brodeur won his last Cup.

Years have, of course, passed. After so much time behind brilliant defencemen like Scott Niedermayer and Scott Stevens, Brodeur is proving he can not only play behind an underwhelming group — the current Devils defence corps has “No Name Defence” scrawled on their water bottles — but also thrive.

Lamoriello, meanwhile, has taken his fair share of criticism since the last New Jersey title in ’03, but getting back to the Cup final this spring clearly demonstrates he has indeed adjusted to the salary cap world. He believes that the money that has flowed to NHL players in the past decade has added pressures to their professional lives, but at the same time marvels at a youngster like Adam Henrique who has brought the same attitude to the Devils that Brodeur did 20 years ago.

So did Lamoriello ever think during those unsuccessful seasons after ’03, or last spring after missing the playoffs altogether, about looking for a new goalie?

“You’re always thinking about the next step. If you’re not, it’s time for the cigar and beach chair,” he smiled.

“All I can tell you is we’re going right now. And winning this is all we’re thinking about.”

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